The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is a forgotten film, but not as forgotten as Make Mine Music and the like.

The original title of the film was “Two Fabulous Characters.” I’m glad it changed. There’s more than two characters and I would hardly call Ichabod “fabulous.” Augh. Anyway. Moving on.

First up, Basil Rathbone (from Sherlock Holmes fame) introduces an odd array of British books and settles on The Wind in the Willows. (Basil would later be given a tribute in another Disney film – The Great Mouse Detective, having the main character named after himself.)

Now, I can’t really talk about this segment as a comparison to the novel. I’ve never read it. Walt got the rights to the film in 1938, so this film was 10+ years in the making (Although there was a pause because of the war.) Both shorts (Ichabod and Mr. Toad) were originally meant to be full length films. After Disney realized The Adventures of Mr. Toad wasn’t going to make it as a full feature, they wanted to pair it with Mickey and the Beanstalk, but it was too long. So Bongo got stuck there instead and Mr. Toad met up with Ichabod. Whatever. Carry on.

Mr. Toad lives in Toad Hall, but unfortunately he is quite irresponsible with his fortune. Because of this, Angus MacBadger is in charge of the estate. Angus calls Toad’s friends, Rat and Mole, over because Toad has gone insane. And yes, Rat was designed to look like Sherlock Holmes.

Now we get our fabulous introduction to Mr. J. Thaddeus Toad (probably my favorite forgotten Disney character.) He is merrily merrily merrily merrily merrily on his way to nowhere in particularwith his dear friend Cyril Proudbottom and their canary yellow horse-drawn cart. From the very second Toad appears on screen, you instantly know his character. You know exactly how he will act. Toad gets obsessed with anything that presents itself in front of him. Hence why he wants a car. Toad is fantastically done.

Anyway, Toad waltzes into a pub and trades the deed to Toad Hall for a car. Unfortunately, the car was stolen. Toad gets put in jail. There’s a trial. He gets put back in jail. He escapes by dressing up like a woman.

So, Cyril (yes, the horse) is dressed up like a grandma and goes to visit Toad on Christmas. He brought a granny suit for Toad, too. Apparently, this plan works? The jail guards believe that a HUGE horse-sized granny went in and a small toad-sized granny came out? Oh okay. WHAT!?

Eventually it is found that Toad is innocent and he gets Toad Hall back, after an epic battle with lots of sharp weapons and paper airplanes. Hurrah.

I think most of this film would go over kids’ heads, but that’s okay because Toad is fabulous. Who cares about the plot?

So. Why does Sarah care about this segment? Three reasons, as a matter of fact.

1. The character of Mr. Toad. He’s memorable, he’s funny, he’s mad.

2. The use of both animals and humans in the film. Winkey, the barkeep, the police, lawyers, and some random background characters were all human whereas Angus, Cyril, Mr. Toad, Rat and Mole are animals. We’ve seen that before. Nothing remarkable about that. However, the worlds were perfectly integrated. The animals were much smaller than the humans (although not true to size) and they acted seamlessly. The cars, horse-drawn cart, etc. weren’t animal sized or adapted. It wasn’t awkward that there was a crossover. I don’t know why there were both humans and animals, but it worked well.

3. There was an attraction located in the Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland entitled “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.” It was an opening day attraction. Sadly, this ride closed in 1998, despite a very large protest.

Sarah, it’s just a ride. Who cares? There’s one in Disneyland still (but the Disneyland one is different)

Well, I care.

You boarded a motorcar on one of two sides of a track. It was a dark ride, first taking you through Toad Hall. The car almost ran into several things. It was “wild,” so they say. The two tracks had different scenes…taking you through the courtroom, a gypsy camp, a train that almost hits you…(clearly, this has very little to do with the film) and then last but not least, IT TAKES YOU THROUGH HELL. Appropriate, NOPE. Did I love it? YES!

Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride was closed down forever in 1998. It was then replaced by The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Today, two tributes still stand in WDW for Mr. Toad:

A picture of Mr. Toad handing the deed to Toad Hall to Owl (located inside the Winnie the Pooh ride).

And a tombstone in the pet cemetery of the Haunted Mansion.

Moving on….

The Ichabod segment used to be played on Halloween night on the Disney Channel (when they actually played their own classic material.) Disney also segmented it further where they cut Ichabod out completely and just kept the part about the headless horseman. I would definitely prefer it this way. The first 2/3s of this film bore me to no end. Sorry, buddy, don’t care about you or your love life. In fact, he was kind of a jerk…only going to date women for their food.

The only thing I will say is that I agree with Jon….the Beauty and the Beast animators must have looked at Brom Bones and that creepy guy.

It’s time for the last music-induced package film of the 1940s. (We won’t see another one until the year 2000.) Only one more package film to go! (And thankfully I like half of that one.)

Melody Time is more or less a sequel to Make Mine Music. It is a package of seven musical shorts set to popular and folk music. I like that Disney didn’t try to tie the stories together. Each short is independent. There’s no cricket, conductor, or magic serape guiding you through. Some of the shorts are narrative while others interpret the music. Several famous voices appear in the film including: Frances Langford, The Andrews Sisters, and Roy Rogers.

Although the film is made up of seven shorts, I’m only going to focus on two of them.

The third short in the film is “The Legend of Johnny Appleseed.” As a former girl scout, I used to sing the Johnny Appleseed song ALL THE FREAKIN TIME. (And it always rained after we did. Strange that.)

Oh the Lord is good to me and so I thank the Lord for giving me the things I need: the sun and the rain and the apple tree. Oh the Lord is good to me….etc. etc.

The song happens to be sung in the Disney short. Who wrote the song? Did John Chapman actually sing it? Is it a random uncredited folk song? Did someone at Disney write it? Can anyone tell me the origin? Wikipedia calls it his traveling song or a Swedenborgian hymn. That doesn’t tell me much. Did he actually sing it? Inquiring minds wish to know!

Anyway. What do they teach you in grade school? John Chapman was some religious guy who went around the US’s wild frontier planting apple seeds with a pot on his head. He earned himself the nickname of Johnny Appleseed. Well, the Disney short doesn’t make much more sense than that.

Johnny is hanging out in his orchard, picking apples and whatnot, when he sees a band of covered wagons trot on by. He wishes he could go but alas he will stay with his apples. BUT HARK! There is a ghost! He tells Johnny to take a sack of apple seeds, put a pot on his head, and head out by himself to the wild west. Johnny listens to the ghost and off he goes. He makes friends with animals and plants a lot of apples. Eventually, he becomes old and dies. His old ghost friend tells him he needs to plant trees in heaven.

Is it just me or does this John fellow sound like a crack pot?
The short leads us to believe that he lived with the animals (who sleep with him even in death – HA. Can you imagine Johnny Appleseed and Snow White in heaven? I wish I had artistic ability.) He had an endless supply of seeds and he planted them….then disappeared to plant more (except when he is being a creeper and spying on apple parties.)

Well, apparently the real John Chapman owned quite a bit of land and in fact planted nurseries of apple trees, not just random trees in the wilderness. He bothered building fences and he came back to take care of them. According to Wikipedia, John never married because he thought he would have two wives waiting for him in heaven. Thankfully Disney had him as a single nomad and didn’t feel the need to throw in a random love story.

What I’m saying is that the story is a little bit out there, but it’s kind of one of those American grade school/scouts essentials. The Disney short told me everything that grade school did. The animation is well done and thankfully not flashy or overdone. It is really more about the story telling. I appreciate the effort of the animators/story tellers. I just wish Johnny made a little bit more sense. Maybe a full length feature instead of a 17 minute short?

The last short featured in Melody Time is the story of Pecos Bill, a cowboy/frontierman who was raised by coyotes. Over all, I felt rather bleh about the story. It didn’t make sense. But it was a tall tale. t isn’t supposed to make sense. It was well done, just not my cup of tea. Let’s pretend for a minute that the short isn’t what I’m supposed to care about.

The short is told by none other than Roy Rogers (with Trigger close by, of course.)
Okay, what? You ask. Why do I care? I care because my grandpa is really into westerns. In fact, they might be the only thing he watches for all I know.

Roy Rogers was the singing cowboy and a very popular and heavily marketed actor. He was in over 100 movies and had his own TV show. His nickname was “King of the Cowboys.” There’s also a restaurant chain named after this guy. What I’m saying is, he’s a big deal.

His horse, Trigger, is probably one of the most famous horse-actors ever. (Can you name others besides Mr. Ed or Silver?) According to wiki, Trigger had 150 trick cues and could walk 50 feet on his hind legs.
After his death, he was taxidermied. That’s a fact my dad or someone in the family has mentioned to me from a very young age. Why? I don’t know.

Oh, back to Disney. Roy and Trigger are hanging out with Roy’s cowboy band along with Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten, Disney’s Sweethart Team. You’ll remember Luana from her scary puppet party in Fun and Fancy Free. She and Bobby starred together in Song of the South and So Dear to My Heart, two popular live action films. Bobby would later be well known around the Disney Company as the voice for Peter Pan as well as his reference model.

I love that Disney reuses their same actors for a million roles (can we talk about how much I love Sterling Holloway). I love that they brought in HUGE names. At the same time, when modern Disney brought in Miley Cyrus and John Travolta (Bolt – 2008), it pissed me off. Oh well.

While I am tired of the package films, I do like Melody Time more than Saludos Amigos or Fun and Fancy Free. As a whole, I enjoy it more than Make Mine Music, but my love for Willie the Whale, makes me steer more towards Make Mine Music if I were to throw one in to watch.

All in all, of the shorts do well on their own. They definitely have my attention for the five to thirty minutes in which they appear individually, but I get tired and bored when watching them in a row.

Next week – The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad – where Sarah gets sad because of Walt Disney World things.

Fun and Fancy Free is yet another package film (thanks WWII) produced by the Walt Disney Company. It contains a short about a circus bear running away to the wild and a Mickey Mouse version of Jack and the Beanstalk. How are these related? They’re not. Both were originally developed as full features, but due to the war and budgets and whatnot they got shortened and thrown together.

SO! Jiminy Cricket apparently breaks into a house (again) where Cleo happens to be living. However, it is not Gepetto’s house. We’re in America, evidently. Jiminy starts talking to a doll and a stuffed bear after singing a little ditty. What?

Somehow this turns into the story of Bongo the circus bear in a short narrated by Dinah Shore. (She also sang in Make Mine Music) Bear runs away, can’t make it in the wild, meets a cute girl.

Now, I’m not up to par on my bear knowledge….but abusive relationship says what? Given, the song is cutesy and kind of catchy, but WHAT?! I’m with Jon on this one: gonna keep it away from the kiddos.

Fun Fact: Because Bongo was a circus bear, it was a passing thought to have it using the same circus set up and supporting cast (elephants, etc.) as Dumbo.

So after these bears literally beat each other senseless, Jiminy finds an invitation to a birthday party at the house down the way, or some such nonsense. The birthday party contains a young girl, a man, and three ventriloquist puppets. (Apparently the man is some famous guy…still weird.) Creepiest party ever. Yeah, this movie just wouldn’t make it today.

FUN FACT AGAIN!: The young girl, Luana, also appeared in Disney’s Song of the South (that film which Disney chooses to pretend doesn’t exist)

For whatever reason, the gentleman decides to tell the story of Jack and the Beanstalk.

The story features Mickey, Goofy, and Donald who are starving because a magic singing harp got stolen by a giant (just accept it.) Mickey sells his cow to buy magic beans. Beans grow a beanstalk that magically takes Mickey + friends to the giant’s castle. Whatever. You know the story.

Another fun fact: this film is the last time Walt Disney regularly provided Mickey’s voice. He had become too busy running the studios and cigarettes aren’t doing him any favors. After this film, Jimmy MacDonald took over for the voice acting for Mickey. He would remain Mickey until sometime in the 1970s. It is said by some that both Walt and Jimmy can be heard as Mickey in this film.

AND Another Fun Fact: In the original version of Mickey and the Beanstalk, it was supposed to be Foulfellow and Gideon (the fox and the cat from Pinocchio) who were to trade beans for a cow. (Which makes Jiminy and Cleo make a little bit more sense, but not much) In another version, which was actually storyboarded, Mickey got the beans from Queen Minnie.

Now, what is interesting about this rendition of Jack and the Beanstalk is that Disney Co. felt the need to add in a little twist (aside from changing the ending, which the company tends to do with most, if not all, of its stories). For whatever reason, this particular giant has magical powers. He can change his form into anything. He likes being a pink bunny. He can also shrink himself and fly. OH….AND DISAPPEAR.

This has absolutely nothing to do with the story. They didn’t go anywhere with it. It’s not in the original folktale. In the original, the giant says, “Fee Fi Fo Fum. I smell the blood of an Englishman! Be he live or be he dead, I’ll grind his bones to make my bread!” Apparently, that’s too violent (but bear slapping isn’t?) so instead “Fee Fi Fo Fum” are magic words to make him do whatever he wants. Okay, so, he’s magic. I can accept that, but why does he not use that to his advantage? Why was it added in? Anyone?

This giant also eats chocolate pot roast.

Another thing:

If “Jack” and his friends had to climb up a beanstalk to get to the giant’s castle, how did the giant steal the magic golden harp in the first place? This castle is in the clouds. How can clouds support the weight of a castle and/or a giant? How did the giant get out of the clouds to steal the harp? Oh okay. Magic.

I’m not going to lie, I’m ready to be into the 1950s.
I’m kind of over these package films.

It’s time for another round of obscure Disney films that no one else has heard of! YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Make Mine Music is ANOTHER Disney package film of the 1940s. It’s much like Fantasia, in that there are stories set to music, but instead of classical music, it is popular music. (Package films were made because of budget concerns and the war, not because the company was particularly into them)

My introduction to this film came from another favorite VHS from my childhood which featured Lambert the Sheepish Lion, Ferdinand the Bull, and Willie the Operatic Whale. Willie’s short comes straight from Make Mine Music (under the title of “The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met”) and is arguably the best part of the full length film. Other shorts I had seen individually: Peter and the Wolf was shown to us in grade school and Casey at the Bat used to appear on the old version of the Disney channel (back when you had to pay extra for it and it actually played classic animation.) What I’m saying is, the film is better in shorts than it is as a whole, and this film and I go way back.

I’m not going to pretend I know a lot about the history of the film. I’m not going to pretend that I’ve watched its entirety more than twice. I can’t make myself sit through the whole thing. It’s no wonder why no one has seen this film and Disney kind of ignores this part of their history. I love the Willie the Whale short (and fair warning, it’s kind of sad)….but other than that, I can really do without this film.

Instead of me rambling, here’s some GIFs! Judge for yourself whether or not you want to watch it!

The Three Caballeros – the first official Disney animated sequel. In fact, it’s one of four as of the present (Fantasia 2000, The Rescuers Down Under, and Winnie the Pooh being the others.) Fun fact – the sequels everyone is familiar with these days are made by an entirely different division of the company. That’s why the animation is…different and most of the time they are released straight to home video and do not have the same appeal as the originals.

I happen to love this sequel about 1000x more than the original.
The whole film and the absurdity of it all makes me laugh. A lot. And talk to the TV. A lot. (NO, I HAVEN’T BEEN TO BAIA!) I was first introduced to the film through a Disney’s Sing A Long Songs VHS tape I had growing up. It featured the title song: The Three Caballeros.

Today, this forgotten film is immortalized through Epcot’s Mexico pavilion’s Gran Fiesta Tour ride. Walt Disney World’s All Star Music hotel also features a statue of the three characters in a pool…..But let’s be serious, do any of today’s kids know who Panchito and Jose are? Probably not. Do most people from my generation (unless you’re a Disnerd)? Also, probably not. Google tells me they were featured on the show “House of Mouse,” but I don’t know if that counts. A+ for Disney to trying to hold on to their history, but in a “culture” defined by princesses and talking cars, these films are certainly a lost art.

While the last film, Saludos Amigos, featured a lot of live-action sequences, this film takes advantage of more animation. Not that there isn’t random live action thrown in, but I’m more comfortable calling this one an animated film compared to the last one. Also like Saludos Amigos, there is no one solid storyline. There is a plethora of shorts tied together in the guise of Donald Duck’s birthday.

What did Donald get for his birthday? A video about a penguin and a flying donkey, a magic serape ride, and the opportunity to ogle a bunch of women. The women in the film serve as objects of lust and nothing else. It’s the 40s, not one of the company’s worst decisions for content, but not the best. They wouldn’t be able to get away with it today without backlash, but meh. It doesn’t bug me that much. (As a female, it probably should….but oh well.) Donald’s female counterpart, Daisy, does not make an appearance in the film. Wonder what she would have to say about his ogling? She was first introduced in 1940 as a romantic interest. Maybe they weren’t serious yet? It’s only been 4 years. Sheesh.

So anyway. The film was again part of a good will mission to South/Latin America by Walt and his team. Have I learned anything about their culture? Nothing besides that all they seemingly do is dance….and there’s lots of birds?

Things worth noting about the film:

Ward Kimball, one of Walt’s “Nine Old Men,” was responsible for animating the title number. It’s about as quirky as it comes. Visual and auditory comedy. By far, my favorite part of the film.

Mary Blair, another famous Disney artist (who is responsible for concept art of Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and Cinderella – along with the design of It’s a Small World and a whole bunch of other important stuff) was a supervisor on this film and it’s predecessor. She is responsible for the designs of the Baia number.
Speaking of Baia, I constantly want to yell during that part.
NO! I HAVEN’T BEEN TO F’ING BAIA! STOP ASKING ME!

This toucan also reminds me of a scene in Alice in Wonderland….but we’re not there yet.

Donald goes on a serious acid trip for the ending sequence. People always make comments about Alice in Wonderland or the pink elephants in Dumbo, but this film sequence seriously takes the cake.

Overall, individually, I like the pieces of the film. Together? Meh.
Do I want to go to Latin America? Nope, but that’s okay. The film makes me laugh. I couldn’t watch it everyday, but I enjoy it enough.

Why shouldn’t it be included (in Sarah World)? Most of it isn’t animated. I didn’t bother calculating how much is live action and how much is animated. I’m sure that statistic is out there somewhere. Two Disney films that are both live action and animation that deserve credit over Saludos Amigos: Mary Poppins and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. (You know what, Mary Poppins gets a lot of credit. No one knows Bedknobs and Broomsticks – quite frankly, I prefer it to Poppins.) Either way, they’re different beasts than Saludos Amigos. ANYWAY!

You probably haven’t heard of Saludos Amigos. There’s probably a reason for that. (However, at the time, the film was popular enough to warrant a sequel. How bout that.) It’s not a traditional “Disney animated film.” As in, it is edutainment, not entertainment. The live action sequences are documentaries about the cultures of various places in South America – Lake Titicaca (Peru), Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). In addition to being mostly live action, it is a package film, meaning there is not one solid plot. It is a bunch of little stories, much like Fantasia, Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, Fun and Fancy Free, and Melody Time.

The film was made as a result of a goodwill tour that Walt and his team took to South America. Why? To stop the South Americans from being allies with Nazi Germany. (America – F yeah!) Mickey and the gang were popular with South Americans, and so the government gave Walt a bunch of money to go down there. Guess it worked.

Donald Duck was also featured in another infamous Disney anti-nazi short, Der Fuehrer’s Face (1943). Yes, Donald is a nazi. Yes, the Disney Company likes to pretend that this short doesn’t exist, but it did, in fact, win an Academy Award. Kind of hard to ignore that. But blah blah blah, end of story: Donald sure is glad to live in the United States! As we’re not talking about Disney shorts here, I’ll leave you to make your own judgement on the thing.

(Disney also likes to pretend that Song of the South doesn’t exist, and yet one of their most popular theme park attractions is based on it. C’mon Disney, just slap a disclaimer before the film and release it already. All you’re doing is encouraging piracy! Sorry – off topic….but still Disney in the 40s!)

In addition to helping out the war effort, it made Americans more culturally aware of South America. Apparently only savages lived there. Little did they know, “it’s like America, but SOUTH!” (sorry, wrong movie.) They eat, they dance, they work. Hooray. According to others, Saludos Amigos was never meant to be a real film, but instead a series of shorts.

This movie has segments featuring Donald and Goofy and introduces Jose Carioca (who we will revisit in the next film). There’s also a plane named Pedro. Meh. The animated shorts themselves are enjoyable enough. They’re in like with the other shorts that the company was producing around this time. The animation, aside from the last sequence – “Aquarela do Brasil”, I think to be forgettable. Unlike the other package films of this era, I don’t really enjoy these shorts.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate edutainment (or South America) – I do. In fact, my favorite Donald short is Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land. (Donald being my favorite character out of the fab five) I adore EPCOT. A LOT of old Disney produced material is Edutainment…lessons in history, math, physics, color, music – anything you could possibly name. It’s just…was I bored? Not exactly, just kind of disconnected. If I was living in the 40s, I would probably appreciate this film more than I do now. The film is, very much, dated.

Overall, I’m feeling rather meh about this film. It has an interesting place in history, but I’d rather skip it and watch its sequel, The Three Caballeros, instead.

When someone mentions sad Disney films, Bambi seems to be the first one to come to mind, but quite frankly, it was not nearly as sad as my childhood memories seem to think it was. Oh well. It’s better that way, I guess. (“No one’s going to shag you if you cry all the time.” -Love Actually)

The plot and the characters I can kind of live without. I really only enjoy Thumper (who was not in the original story….Walt Disney added him in for much needed comic relief) and Friend Owl. However, the film is stunningly beautiful. The backgrounds alone kind of make the film worth watching. Jon’s take on it was that it was a waste of budget, but I disagree. The backgrounds are not only beautiful, but do a great job in setting the feel for the film. It’s serene and perfect.

As for the plot? It’s a coming of age story. Not my favorite topic. Deer grows up, makes friends, deals with the death of parent, gets twitterpated, fights for his girl, has babies. End. Whatever. There’s no real character development. Just put it on mute. The highlight of the film is the art. I wish they still made films like this.

So anyway, let’s just touch on two different subjects.

1. Friend Owl.

HE IS CREEPY! Did the GIFs prove my point? No? Watch the film.
I mean, I guess he’s supposed to be friendly….and wise? He just gives me a really weird creepy vibe.

Another odd thing to me…..do deer fathers really just leave their kids? Not that I expect deer to be monogamous, but it seemed weird that Bambi’s father, “the great prince of the forest,” was only involved when his mom died. The last shot of the film is Bambi and his father standing on some cliff as Faline stays with their two newborns. Maybe it’s a deer thing. Also, if Bambi’s father is the oldest, most respected deer in the forest, why is he only a prince? Shouldn’t he be the king?

Just as a rebuttal to Jon’s post: yes, there are girls. Both the Blue Fairy and Cleo count as females. Also, when Geppetto sends Pinocchio off to school, Pinocchio asks, “what are those?” to which Geppetto responds, “Huh? Oh those! they are your schoolmates…girls and boys.” Just because the girls don’t turn into jackasses, doesn’t mean there are no females.

Overall, I love this film. There’s a good moral, nice music, likable characters, beautiful animation, a really cute cat, and amazing wooden carved clocks. Boys smoking, drinking, running amuck, and literally turning into jackasses? Good luck getting away with that in any G rated film these days. Love it. (Jon makes a good point about that not being a cost effective way to raise donkeys, however.)

That is not to say that the film is without its problems.

Why are John Worthington Foulfellow (Honest John) and Gideon the only anthropomorphic animal characters? No one else thinks it is weird that there’s a talking fox and a drunk cat walking around with these humans? Oh okay. (Fun fact – Gideon was originally voiced by Mel Blanc – famous as the voice for many of the Looney Tunes characters) Figaro is also a cat, but a pet. Why can’t he talk? (Same reason why Goofy and Pluto are both dogs, but only Goofy can talk, I guess)

How does Geppetto get swallowed by a whale when looking for Pinocchio? The story is Italian, so I can imagine him wandering towards a beach or something to look, but why would he go into the water, on boat or otherwise? The whale couldn’t have been close to shore. Monstro was HUGE. Furthermore, how can Jiminy Cricket breathe underwater when they go looking for Monstro? Pinocchio is excused because he is made of wood. What is the cricket’s excuse?!

Speaking of Jiminy….he was quite the skirt chaser. I’m just going to leave it at that.

Faults aside, I think I like this movie far more as an adult than I did as a child. Not one of my top films, but definitely enjoyable.

Snow White, Snow White, Snow White. This film has always been one of my least favorites….at least in the bottom three. (I’ll make an official declaration at the end of this project. Stay tuned for Sarah’s Least Favorite Disney Film!) Anyway. Jon covered the plot, so you’re stuck with my random thoughts. Sorry!

Let’s talk positives first of all:

You’ve got to have respect for this film. It’s the first. Without it, none of the other Disney films would exist. First what? Not only first film by Walt Disney, but also the first full length feature animated film, the first in full color, and first animated feature made in America. I can’t completely hate the film just for historical aspects.

Grumpy is hilarious. He has the best lines in the whole film. Can we bring back the phrase, “a fine kettle of fish?” I think we should.

There’s this rabbit that is adorable. I wasn’t smart enough to grab a screencap before I returned the DVD to my friend, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

I kind of like the idea of the logs turning into crocodiles. (but let’s face it, I just like crocodiles and alligators – as will be proven when I get around to Fantasia and Peter Pan)

The Huntsman is a generally good guy. I am concerned about the pig, however.

Yeah, that’s about the extent of good things I have to say about Snow White.

Most people complain about sexism and this and that….how Snow White waited around for a prince to come and save her….something about cooking and cleaning. blah blah blah. She was forced to be a scullery maid by her stepmother. Obsessively cleaning wasn’t exactly her fault. What happened to her actual parents? I don’t know. I don’t care. It’s irrelevant to what little plot there is. Furthermore, Snow White didn’t wait around for a prince. She was “dead.” She couldn’t do anything. She was only in the dwarfs’ house a day or two. Was she naive? Absolutely, but that’s what happens when you’re forced to stay in a castle and have no contact with anyone but doves.

Problems I have with the film….

Snow White’s voice. It grates on my ears. Can’t do it. No, thank you. However, at Walt Disney World, there is a superb Snow White who hangs out in Epcot. I think the voice suits the character perfectly…I just don’t want to listen to her.

If everyone knows Queen Grimhilde (yeah, she has a name) is evil, how come no one has overthrown her or done anything about it? Is Snow White’s dad still around and is just completely whipped by this woman?

Why is the plural of dwarf dwarfs and not dwarves? (okay, that’s not a film problem. I guess that’s an English problem)

Why doesn’t the mirror lie to Queen Grimhilde? Does he want the Queen to be pissed and for Snow White to die? Maybe he’s like the magical sitar and can only tell the truth. Is the mirror the Queen’s only friend? She should get out more.

Who do the dwarfs work for? “We don’t know what we dig them for.” Okay…so….why are you in the mine? No one knows. Why did you leave Snow White alone in your house? You could have saved her! It’s your fault she is “dead!”

Glass coffin? Really? Cause that’s not creepy.

Jon’s right. There isn’t too much happening. The dwarfs are kind of pointless. There isn’t too much character development. The film moves pretty slowly.

Maybe my problems lie with the original story, and not Walt’s interpretation. Who knows.

The film is iconic, historical, and amazing for its time. I will give it that much credit. However, I am glad to leave it behind and move on to the other films. As it was pointed out by another blogger, it is much easier to appreciate Snow White if you’re familiar with the animated leading up to it.